S. Korean ad market soars 20.4% in 2021 amid pandemic

South Korea's advertising market grew at the fastest-ever pace in 2021 on a surge in digital advertisements amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Thursday. Advertising expenses in Asia's fourth-largest economy amounted to 13.99 trillion won ($11.7 billion) last year, up 20.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the report from Cheil Worldwide Inc. It represented the largest on-year increase rate since data tracking began in 1973. The country's top advertising agency said last year'

Feb. 10, 2022

Artificial intelligence powers Samsung Galaxy S22 series

Cameras that take lens flare-free photos at night, sunlight-readable displays and enhanced durability with tougher and lighter frames: all are included with the newest flagship 5G smartphones unveiled by Samsung Electronics at a virtual Galaxy Unpacked event held late Wednesday, at midnight Seoul time. 　 The world‘s largest smartphone maker by shipments said its premium Galaxy smartphones S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra, as well as the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets, will be available worldwide starting F

Feb. 10, 2022

KT adds Amazon's Alexa voice service on its AI speakers

South Korean telecom giant KT Corp. said Thursday it rolled out a new service that allows customers to enjoy Amazon's voice assistant on its artificial intelligence speakers to better meet demand for English education. KT said it has joined hands with US retail giant Amazon.com Inc. to launch the Dual Brain AI service, which integrates Amazon's Alexa virtual voice service into its GiGA Genie speakers to support both Korean and English languages. The service is available immediately on all 3.1

Feb. 10, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 10.23 points, or 0.37 percent, to trade at 2,779.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.08 percent on tech gains, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.86 percent. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.67 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 1.98 percent. I

Feb. 10, 2022

Policymakers to meet over economic risk factors, market volatility

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday he will meet with the central bank chief and the top financial regulator this week to discuss policy coordination, volatility in the financial market and economic risk factors. Hong plans to hold a meeting Friday with Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Lee Ju-yeol; Koh Seung-beom, chairman of the Financial Services Commission; and Jeong Eun-bo, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service. The finance minister said the main agenda will include how to coordinate fis

Feb. 10, 2022

S. Korea's current account surplus halved on-year in December amid soaring imports

South Korea's current account surplus was halved in December from a year earlier as imports grew at a much faster pace than exports amid higher energy and raw material prices, central bank data showed Thursday. The current account surplus amounted to $6.06 billion in December, compared with a surplus of $12.06 billion a year earlier, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. The December figure was also smal

Feb. 10, 2022

SKT CEO vows stronger metaverse push with M&As

SK Telecom will push for mergers and acquisitions in the field of metaverse, the telecom firm’s CEO Ryu Young-sang said in an earnings call Wednesday. The remark comes as SK Telecom, which spun off investment affiliate SK Square, is undergoing a period of transition with new growth drivers, with artificial intelligence and metaverse spearheading the trend under a newly established “Aiverse” division. “I’d like to make it very clear that SK Telecom will pursue st

Feb. 9, 2022

SK Inc. pays highest-ever dividend to shareholders

SK Inc., the holdings firm of South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate SK Group, will give out the largest-ever dividends to shareholders: 8,000 won ($6.6) per share. The total dividend amount is 447.6 billion won, a 114 percent increase from 208.7 billion won in 2016. The figure is 21 percent up from the last year’s 370.1 billion won. “The profit SK Inc. secured from the partial divestment of SK Biopharmaceuticals shares last year was reflected in the finances, leading t

Feb. 9, 2022

‘Excessive’ LED decorations hurt trees: study

“Excessive” use of artificial lights on trees during nighttime could harm trees and affect their growth, the National Institute of Forest Science said Wednesday, recommending LED decorations to be turned on for no more than six hours daily. In a study, the state-run institute installed LED lights on three types of trees -- pine, king cherry and ginkgo -- and observed if it had effects on their nighttime breathing. Researchers exposed each tree to LED lights for six hours -- 6 p.m. t

Feb. 9, 2022

SK Inc. to pay out W447.6b in dividends

SK Inc., the holding firm of South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, said Wednesday it is paying out 447.6 billion won ($373.9 million) in dividends for the fiscal 2021 in an effort to promote shareholder value. The company's board approved the year-end dividend payment of 6,500 per common stock and 6,550 won per preferred share, amounting to 368.3 billion won, SK said in a regulatory filing. SK paid the interim dividends of 1,500 won per common stock, or 79.3 billion won, in August last year

Feb. 9, 2022

McDonald‘s to bring Spicy McNuggets to Korea

McDonald‘s is bringing its fan-favorite Spicy Chicken McNuggets to Korea for a limited time, the company in Seoul said last week. Seasoned with cayenne and chili pepper, the spicy version of the iconic menu item created a huge buzz in the US when released as a limited time offer in 2020. The fast food giant is hoping to further capture the Korean palate, which is characterized by a love for spice. The Spicy McNuggets are available for a limited time only from  Feb. 4 to early May. F

Feb. 9, 2022

Seoul stocks up for 2nd day on earnings hope

South Korean stocks closed higher for a second day in a row on Wednesday amid hopes of strong corporate earnings. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 22.38 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 2,768.85 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 530 million shares worth some 10.2 trillion won ($8.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 757 to 125. Institutions bought a net 197 billion won and foreigners purchased 239 b

Feb. 9, 2022

AMAXG opens research center, holds contest for DApp developers

Blockchain company AMAXG said it is focusing on the metaverse, artificial intelligence and digital personal safe businesses this year. Having laid the groundwork for the BizAuto platform last year, this year the company expects to boost the AMAXG Metaverse World where metaverse meets nonfungible tokens, big data and AI. AMAXG Group said on Thursday it will establish a metaverse-AI convergence research center, and expand and reorganize its business structure to make progress on new businesses.&

Feb. 9, 2022

Samsung under pressure to double pay raise

Samsung Electronics has come under heightened pressure to offer hefty pay increases amid strike threats from its minority labor unions over stalled wage talks, according to industry sources Wednesday. As the Korean tech giant has no majority labor union, an in-house management-labor council has held wage talks since October last year. But the two sides have failed to narrow their differences until recently. Sources say the council’s employee representatives this week lodged new demands

Feb. 9, 2022

Samsung Electronics tops chip facility investment in 2021

Samsung Electronics invested more money into its chip plants and equipment in 2021 than any of its competitors including Intel and TSMC. According to the South Korean chip giant Wednesday, the company poured 43.6 trillion won ($36.4 billion) for upgrades to and the expansion of its chip plants in Korea and China where advanced DRAM chips and vertical NAND flash memory chips are produced. The funds were also used for the expansion of an advanced 5-nanometer production line at its foundry plan

Feb. 9, 2022

Asiana Airlines certified 5-Star Airline for 16 years

Asiana Airlines said Wednesday that it has been certified by Skytrax, a leading review site for airlines, as a 5-Star Airline for the quality of its airport and onboard product and staff service. The airline has been winning the highest rating for 16 consecutive years since 2007. This year, Asiana Airlines has also been certified with the highest Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating that reviews airline health, hygiene, and cleanliness standards. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, t

Feb. 9, 2022

SK Bioscience rolls out 1st batch of Novavax vaccine

SK Bioscience rolled out the first batch of Nuvaxovid, Novavax’s synthetic antigen-based COVID-19 vaccine, the company said Wednesday. On top of the 840,000 doses that were rolled out on Wednesday, SK Bioscience said it plans to supply a total of 2 million doses by the end of this month. The shipment follows the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s approval of the vaccine last month. In December, SK Bioscience signed a contract with the US bio firm to secure the manufacturing and s

Feb. 9, 2022

[Newsmaker] Hana Financial taps man behind successful KEB merger transition as new chief

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has nominated Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo, who led its flagship lender’s smooth operation and business rebranding after its grueling acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank seven years ago, to be the next chairman of the banking group. On Tuesday, the firm’s chairman nomination committee tapped Ham as the sole nominee for the position, citing his performance in generating profit and bolstering stability in business. Ham has also shown “extra

Feb. 9, 2022

Korean Air-Asiana merger takes step further with Singapore approval, FTC’s imminent decision

A merger between South Korea’s two biggest air carriers picked up pace on Wednesday after they received an unconditional approval from Singapore and as a final decision by the Fair Trade Commission approaches next week. According to Korean Air, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore concluded that the air carrier’s acquisition of Asiana Airlines will not infringe Singapore’s Competition Act. The decision comes after the CCCS conducted a public consultation last

Feb. 9, 2022

ASML CEO hints at adding 1,000 more jobs in Korea by 2029

Netherlands-based lithography equipment maker ASML is poised to add at least 1,000 more jobs in South Korea by the end of 2029, ASML CEO Peter Wennink said in a conference in Seoul Wednesday. The move will bolster its partnership with Korean semiconductor chip makers, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the key clients for ASML’s extremely expensive lithography machines that are crucial for cutting-edge chip production. “This decade, we will add at least 1,000 people more

Feb. 9, 2022